The old listing of (740) 453-4758 should be active again within about a week.

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NASHPORT -- There are still some great views, some new and improved, at the reopened Vista Golf Course.

The old Vista View course, which was sold at auction in May to Jim Lepi, representing Advanced Procedures, an offshoot of Lepi Enterprises, has undergone a face-lift over the last seven weeks before opening to the public last Thursday.

"The changes are pretty darn amazing, and people have been raving about the greens, can't believe the difference," said new clubhouse manager Ryan Schmidt. "There have been a lot of good comments."

Some of those thoughts have come from Nick Madden, a longtime player.

"The greens are just excellent from the way they were before," said Madden, who was relaxing on the clubhouse patio after playing a round with friends Wednesday morning. "They've done a good job, we're just tickled pink they are back."

Tyler Hull was looking forward to seeing some of the changes.

"I played here last summer, and heard it opened back up. So I'm excited to see how it plays," Hull said, as he prepared to tee off with playing partner Andrew Hamilton.

The experience is all new to Schmidt as well. He was previously in the landscaping business and has a horticulture degree from Ohio State. He interviewed about three weeks ago and was hired two weeks ago.

"I called Brian (King, with Lepi Enterprises), put my resume in and jumped on it. I had seven days to get organized to see what I could do," Schmidt said. "And I can't speak more highly of the Lepi family and the amount of work they did to get the course ready. All of the equipment Lepi Enterprises brought in to get things done."

One of the new looks includes ponds that were built to replace a bunker between the 13th and 14th fairways.

"The bunker was in such bad shape, so we screened the sand, and reused it for some of the other bunkers. And the ponds are pretty deep, too," he said. "It's about 13 feet. So if you hit a ball in there, you've pretty much lost it. I think it could be one of the signature areas of the course."

He cautioned the new water hazard will be a challenge for golfers.

"If you spray it right, you've lost your ball," he said. "On 14, you better hit the fairway. Golfers come out here because it plays long and it's open. We just changed the shot. We're not taking away from what the course is all about."

Play on the course was also reversed -- the back 9 has become the front 9, Schmidt said.

The course has 10 employees between the clubhouse and the outside work, and Jim Lepi said he is preparing to hire a grounds superintendent within the week.

"We've really got some nice people working with us, and the way Ryan has hit the ground running has been fabulous," Lepi said. "He's been here day and night. We can't do everything all at once. But we're looking for constant, consistent improvement."

He said he was encouraged by all of the good comments about the greens, especially since there has been such a drainage issue around the course for years.

"We've fixed three major irrigation leaks and there are a couple of others we're looking at," Lepi explained. "We've got the greens looking good, but we're going to start working out from the greens to the fairways. With the rain we've had, we're just learning how to manage the water, because it's been so dry."

"The drainage is definitely one of our main concerns," added Schmidt. "It's going to take a lot of time, adding more reservoirs. There's a wide open area out behind the pump house where we could put in another pond. It will take time, but we'll definitely get there. I think the improvements and changes are just the tip of the iceberg."